Here it is. Enjoy.

Quick Tip: Hold the ‘Option’ key in your text editor to be able to select text vertically!

As a web developer I spend a lot of time using a text editor, at least 6 hours a day. I know there are other developers out there who stare at the millions of pixels of letters as well as I do, so I’d like to share one of my favorite workflow tips, vertically selecting text! Normally if you want to select multiple lines of text, say at the end of each line, you would have to select the desired block of text by dragging your mouse horizontally across the screen or by holding the shift key and moving the cursor with arrows or maybe even some other types of shortcuts. How nice would it be if you could select a column of text, rather than going from line to line? Well this is easily done with a simple shortcut in Apple’s very well thought out OS X!

It only takes one simple step, hold down the ‘OPTION’ key and your cursor will magically transform into a cross. Use it to select text any way you want – vertically, horizontally and even diagonally (sort of). For you designers out there, think of it as the rectangle marquee tool in Photoshop.

This works in most (if not all) text editors written in Cocoa on OS X as well as a few other apps. (Sorry it doesn’t work in browsers). This is a very hand if you are a programmer or developer staring at thousands of lines of text every day, maybe this will make your life a little bit easier!